Crock Pot Potato Soup :)

 

I have been wanting to try a crock pot potato soup for a while. I finally found the will to want to peel all of those potatoes for the task. Haha. Peeling potatoes has been one of my least favorite things for as long as I can remember. However, this recipe was totally worth it. 

Ingredients needed

5-6 Russet Potatoes, cubed

1/2 onion, chopped

5 cloves of garlic, minced ( i just used 2 larger ones and crushed them)

4 cups chicken broth

8 oz cream cheese, softened

salt, pepper

2 tbsp chopped fresh parsley ( optional )

3/4 tsp celery seed 

1/2 teaspoon dried thyme ( its important to use half a tsp and not tbsp like i did...unless you like thyme)

Finally - garnishes such as bacon bits, shredded cheese, and green onion. 

 An emulsion blender. ( I don't have one of these so I used a regular blender ) 

A crock pot that is at least 4 qts. 

This recipe was so easy. 

1. Wash, peel, and cut potatoes and then dice into 1/3 or 1/2 inch cubes ( or smaller if you desire) and throw in crock pot.

2. Dice onion and throw in crock pot.

3. Mince or crush garlic and throw in crock pot. 

4. Add all spices and chicken stock to crock pot. 

5. Let everything sit in crock pot on high for 6 hours. 

6. I hope you have been letting the cream cheese soften. Now add some of the chicken broth from the crock pot ( at least half of it) with the cream cheese into a blender and blend and then add back to the crock pot.  This will mix the two together and make it a thick soup like consistency.

NOTE: I did mine bit by bit with the liquid and sections of the cream cheese to get a thicker consistency throughout instead of a partial watery consistency, I was also using a mini blender. ) So this is the part that takes some playing around with.  

After this, you just serve and garnish. Eric sure was a fan of the soup. I hope these directions made sense. Haha. I am blogging today while I am preparing for interviews and finishing up some web interviews. 

If you should happen to think about it I would appreciate prayers. I have an interview tomorrow at 2 pm and then I set up a Disney Interview tomorrow afternoon. 

Well that is all for now. 

The Hignights

Chicken Casserole: Grammy Style

My grandma has been making this for as long as I can remember. It is customizable to everyone's needs in a way. I think it is delicious..and the man really likes it, so it is a staple in our household.


It takes about 30 minutes of prep ( if your chicken is already thawed once you start.) I am trying to mass cook my chicken at the beginning of the week and then refrigerate it for the meals of the week, so that would actually just cut the cook prep down to the cooking of the rice.

The only real prep that is required is cooked chicken and cooked rice. You can season your chicken however you want.

So here is what you need. ( P.S. Grammy if these measurements are off from yours sorry. ) Love you.

2-3 chicken breast whole ( or 4-6 halves)
1 can of cream of chicken
1 can of cream of celery
1 can of golden corn
1 can of french style green beans ( you can also use regular cut or fresh)
1 cup cooked rice
spoonful of mayonnaise (optional)
Texas toast seasoned croutons ( or any other bread topping you prefer)
Sharp cheddar shredded cheese ( or whatever kind you prefer)
Any other veggies you may want...ive really never found a preference other than these for my own taste.

Once you have your chicken cooked and your rice cooked, you can cut the chicken into 1/4 inch pieces or you can shred it.

Now.
Preheat your over to 350.
1. Mix all ingredients in a mixing bowl and pour into any casserole dish you want. It needs to be at least a 12x9 unless your casserole dish is deeper then it can be a smaller size. Sometimes I use our 12x9 pyrex or our smaller deeper corningware. (This dish does not need to be greased)

2. Take about 2 handfuls of croutons ( more or less to preference ) and put in a ziploc bag and crush. Then take this and sprinkle it over the top of the mixture in the casserole dish. ( PLEASE NOTE IN THE PICTURE I WAS OUT OF CROUTONS SO I DIDN'T CRUSH THEM UP AS WELL)

3. Lastly, sprinkle the shredded cheese over the top ( once again to your preference. ) I think we use about a cup or so to cover the top.....in retrospect that a bit of cheese.

4. Now all you have to do is pop it in the oven for about 35 minutes or until center is hot and bubbly.

5. Serve and enjoy.

If you are a pre planner like I am starting to strive to be than this is simple. It does require some prep, however, I love that this encompasses all aspects of the meal in one dish and doesn't require standing over the stove for the entirety of the cooking.

So there you have it. Chicken Casserole Grammy style. It's a hit in our house and hopefully you will try it one day and find that you like it.

Again, the nice thing about this casserole is that you can play with it and experiment. You can add ingredients, subtract ingredients, and just do whatever you want.

Well that is it for that.

Love,
The Hignights

Progress.

Progress.

That has been my theme this week. Progress in unpacking. Progress in becoming a better cook. Progress in becoming more self sufficient. Progress in becoming just a little closer to God. Progress in watching the seasons of House fully through again ( nerd moment ) and progress on the job front.

I got my first reply back to a resume. This was awesome news. I am still trying not to get to excited because after all it is just an interview but it is better than nothing.

So Tuesday at 2:00 pm I shall put on my best and brave an interview. Interviews are not my favorite by any means. I mean it is where I put forth a general impression of myself. Nerves, fear, and more nerves always come with interviews. However, I am learning to suppress this thing. God has truly been faithful in teaching me so much about trusting in him in situations. I know an interview seems like a silly time to be nervous and despite how talkative I am once I get to know someone, initial meetings scare me.

Well that is really all that is new so onto what I have been doing this past week while Eric has been working hard.

Nothing big really has happened this week. Just becoming a home-maker and the such.

One small highlight of my week was being able to help my sister do algebra via skype and text even though we are 800 miles apart. I love that I can still spend time with my sister in some ways!

I have still been making this yummy chicken casserole. It is such an easy thing to do for dinner! I will have to post the recipe one day. Eric is a fan and it is easy on a night when you need a meal with everything in one.

We finally started using our mickey mouse ice cubes. This is just a little picture of how they turned out. I am pleased.

Eric in his Victoria and Albert's costume. Look at those coat tails. How fancy!

I got a picture of this doodlebug the other day. REALLY?!? 9 months? Where has time gone little miss? SHe is still as cute as a button!

We did return some of our gifts to bed, bath, and beyond ( 3 months later ) and got some stuff we had been needing, plus 2 happies.

Our adorable new kitchen timer! Its a penguin! I am obsessed! I am loving it and it has a very loud ding sound...seriously you can't miss it.

Plink! Okay I am obsessed with this product and would recommend it to anyone. It is called plink. They clean and deoderize your garbage disposal. This is the lemon scent. It leaves our kitchen smelling wonderfully lemon-y and for the next few days if I run the disposal I get a little lemon burst. When we have lemons we just use the skins but when we don't these are awesome.

I am also obsessed with our new steamer pot . I have always wanted to be able to steam our vegetables in a simple way because boiling just strips so many of the vitamins off and I wanted to be able to keep them. So the other night I did our first steaming of broccoli. The fresh broccoli didn't look to promising in the produce section so we opted for frozen instead. It was delicious.

My latest obsession would have to be this Christmas Cookie candle from Yankee Candle. It smells so wonderful and has been keeping our apartment smelling blissfully wonderful and keeping me in the "winter mood" in this 80 degree weather.

Today is Eric's day off and I have been loving having him home. His mom and Walt just got back from their cruise this past week so we have been spending the day with them. This picture was taken at IKEA! We love this store! Pictures of the few finds we got there are to come :) 

On a complete side note. I love how Eric has been such a hard and devoted worker. I admire his work ethic and strive to follow it. I am so glad God blessed me with a man who is willing to go the extra mile and devote himself to all he strives to achieve. Looking forward to another update soon.

BTW, so excited to find out that our clubhouse has wi-fi. No more driving to Barnes and Noble for me.

Well that is it for now.

Love.
The Hignights.

Hello Orlando!

Well.....we are here. In bright, sunny, hot (okay not hot but muggy) Orlando.

Despite that first sentence, I really am excited to be down here with my man.
We drove down the first and second of the year.

Yay Florida!

 Thanks to some points we got to stay at a hopping Blue Green resort which was hands the nicest place I have ever stayed.

The day after driving in moving got underway...and my aunt and I both decided it was necessary to get respiratory illnesses. My aunt was much more of a trooper than I was and pushed through it much better. I still am not quite over it. As I sit here typing in Barnes and Noble I go from freezing one second to sweating the next. Boo. Oh well. Anywho...we started moving in!!

We made trips to Walmart (where we snagged a bathroom night light so toes wouldn't be stubbed in the middle of the night ...

We also snagged a zebra print fly swatter in honor of my sister.

We were gifted with a trip of IKEA :) Thanks! ( you know who you are)

Our apartment is small and cozy and I like it that way to be honest. So here are just a few glances and what we have going so far. ( I have more work that needs to be done. )

Excuse the wrinkles on the bed. I made Eric move solely to take this picture and didn't think about it until after the fact.

     On Saturday we had to say goodbye to Grammy and Meme. They headed home.

Oh yeah our menu board!!!

and my reminder on what Eric wanted in his tuna salad. 

We have a ridiculous amounts of dishes everywhere. We are just settling into married life away from home...or our first home anyway and into our new home. I am excited to see what these times bring about. :) I will be on and off sporadically since I currently have to go somewhere with free wifi to do the updating but will be back to show yall everything we are up to.

The Hignights
~A

Goodbye Memphis.

Well tonight is my last night in Memphis. I am spending it with my family and having a good ole fashioned sleep over with my sister. We are currently watching Dance Moms.

Memphis is where I grew up. Where I developed my love for music. Where I met my husband. Where I got married and where my family is. Memphis hold pretty much all of my memories...slowly becoming Orlando as well. I will miss my family but I am excited about this adventure we are going to be embarking on and journeying through together.


Eric has gone ahead with his step-dad with the trailer and they are into Alabama so it is just us girls.

Eric and I love everyone we have grown up and met here and will miss you all dearly. We are ready to get to Florida and get settled. 

                             We had dinner for Grandaddy's birthday and he got to open presents.

 We also got to play Krazy Bee Rummy. This is a HIgnight/Carlisle classic that we have converted the DeLeeuw and Churchill people into it. 

I finally got to get a picture of one of the houses in our neighborhood with their lights on. ( I had tried several times before and they were always off.)

 On New Years Eve we went and had lunch with Eric's dad at Corky. They were in the process of cooking fresh ribs so for our patient wait, we got free dessert. SCORE!

 We spent yesterday between lunch and other things packing. We got a full 14 foot trailer packed and packed. 

We spent New Year's Eve at the Thomas' house playing games and eating taco soup. It was indeed heavenly and I was so glad to see some friends before leaving town. We also played Apples to Apples. :)

We celebrated New Year's Midnight at home laying down due to a particularly nasty case of reflux issues (TMI) so we had to leave the Thomas' early but I had so much fun. 

So...Happy New Years from The Hignights. Next time you hear from us, we will be Floridians!

- The Hignights.